Software - we love and we hate it. Some of us use software daily that we dislike for one reason or another because of work requirements. Then there is the software that we just love to use some of which goes totally against the grain of popularity. Many times when asked why we love or hate some of the software we use we are unable to give a definative answer other than “I just like it…” or “.. I don’t know why but I just don’t like it.”

It is almost a visceral reaction than transcends the usual fanboy attitude we see with Microsoft vs any other software. And while I can only relate to Windows software I am sure the same things exists for the other operating systems as well.

So I thought it would be interesting to see what other software that goes against the popular mainstream people are using and also a fun way to pass away a few minutes of the first boring day of a work week.

The rules are pretty simple:

• Link back to this original post however you want
• name at least 5 programs (web or standalone) that you love that go against the mainstream ( optional - reason why - if possible)
• name at least 5 programs that you dislike; OSes not included, (optional - reason why - if possible)
• tag at least 5 other people - if possible try to include all the OSes (optional - reason why)

Who knows you might find some new software you would never thought to have tried. To start it off and give you an example here are my picks:

Software I love to use:

• XMPlay - music player - incredibly small footprint and great playback quality
• InScribe - email client - small footprint and simple no brainer backup and restore among a large list of other reasons
• AdiIRC - IRC client - a friend wrote it and I just like how well it works
• Easy DVD CD Burner - DVD/CD burner - doesn’t hog the system and very simple to use
• VideoLAN VLC - video player - if it is video VLC can play it and isn’t a resource killer

Software I just dislike because I do:

• Firefox - browser - ya I know this is the darling everyone takes home to momma but I leave her on the street corner every time
• Nero - burning software - what once was a killer must have program has become a bloated piece of crap
• winAMP - music player - another fanboy darling that leaves me cold
• Norton - anything from them - biggest bloated resource hogging pile of crap around
• Google - I still use it but something about Google - maybe more as a company than a product - give me an itch I can’t scratch.

Tag you’re it:

• webomatic - because Jason uses Mac and this isn’t just about the platform
• Robert Scoble - because he is the Grandfather of Links and it would be interesting to see what his preferences are
• Mathew Ingram - because he’s a tech writer who I am sure has some preferences and plus he’s a fellow Canuck and I have to include at least one of us in the list
• Zero Boss - because he’s a developer and it would be interesting to have a non-tech blogger point of view
• Steve Clayton - because he works for Microsoft and it would be interesting to hear from that side of the fence

Also even if your weren’t tagged feel free to tag yourself and carry on with the meme .. either with a post of your own or add to the comments of this post.

Conversation Tags: software, webomatica, Robert Scoble, Mathew Ingram, Zero Boss, Steve Clayton, meme